


A Mother Knows

by Mlr96



Series: The Two Doctors [2]
Category: Criminal Minds, Doctor Who
Genre: Regeneration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 17:52:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6998500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mlr96/pseuds/Mlr96
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Second in The Two Doctors series about Dr. Spencer Reid, a genius, an FBI Agent, a profiler and a Time Lord.</p><p>Story #2:<br/>"You're sadder," she stated. "Is it because he didn’t come back?"<br/>"Mom?" Spencer asked, worried. "Who are you talking about?"<br/>"The other Doctor," she replied, looking at something that he couldn’t see. "Your Doctor."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Mother Knows

**Author's Note:**

> For reference, this chapter's setting takes place directly after "The Fisher King Part 2" for Criminal Minds, and post "Doctor Who: The Movie", beginning of Time War for Doctor Who.
> 
> Also, there are no pairings decided yet for this story. If you have something you want to see, send me a message or review!

The Doctor ran into the TARDIS, shrugging his jacket off his shoulders and throwing it at the pilot's chair.

"Close the door!" he called out to the man who followed him in.

"Really?" the man replied, doing just that. "I thought I should leave it open and let the bullets in."

"Cheeky doesn’t suit you well, Professor," the Doctor smiled, though his tone was somber.

"We are being shot at by our own brothers and sisters," the Professor replied sharply. "Time Lords who had been given permission to make us regenerate if it meant holding us off for long enough so that they could force us to fight the War."

"Good thing they're not gonna catch us, then," the Doctor told him. "Time Lords are lousy shots."

"Yeah," the Professor said, ignoring the sharp pain from his abdomen whenever he moved. "Bad shots. Anyway, we need to get out of here."

"Really?" the Doctor asked with a cheeky smile. "I thought we should stay here and let them tear my TARDIS apart."

"Oh, shut up," the Professor laughed.

"I'm just saying…"

"Shut up and fly her away already."

The TARDIS hummed in agreement, causing the Doctor and the Professor to turn their attention to the console. Each of them was handling a different part of it, and they worked together perfectly.

They ran around it, the Professor losing his footing a couple of times but always getting back to his feet before the Doctor noticed. Pulling levers and pressing buttons, the duo managed to fly the machine away before the room shook and the Professor fell to the ground, unable to push himself up again.

"Professor!" the Doctor called out, rushing to his friend. "Professor, are you okay?"

"I… no," the Professor replied, rolling to his back and revealing a small pool of blood where he previously laid. "I don’t think I'm okay."

"What happened?" the Doctor asked.

"The Time Lords," the Professor replied shakily. "Not as bad shots as we thought they were."

"It's… It's gonna be okay," the Doctor said. "I'll take you to the Med-Wing and we'll fix you up in no time."

"It's too late," the Professor said, nodding at his glowing hand. "It's starting."

"But – but you can't!" the Doctor cried out. "Professor, we're still at the Vortex! It's a recipe for disaster!"

"Doctor, you need to step away."

"Professor, you can't possible consider –"

"Now, Doctor!"

The Doctor scrambled backwards, unable to do anything as his oldest friend regenerated, bright golden light shining out of him. He covered his eyes as he waited for it to end, and for about a minute after it did he dared not move.

The only thing that broke through was a sound that told him it went worse than any of them could have imagined – a sound he never thought he'd hear in the TARDIS.

Slowly, he opened his eyes to see a gurgling baby staring back at him.

* * *

"Mom," Spencer said, standing at the doorstep of the room. His mother looked up at him and he smiled. "We found her," he said. "Rebecca's safe. You helped us save her life."

"Is it time for lunch yet?" Diana Reid asked.

"What?"

"I'm lecturing everyone in Tristan and Iseult," she went on. "They're all gathering in my room after lunch."

Spencer swallowed hard, looking at his mother sadly. "Can I attend the lecture, too?"

"Have you read any of the material?" Diana questioned.

"I've had them read to me," he replied.

"Wonderful," Diana said. "That's the best way, isn’t it?"

"By far."

She smiled, looking at him for a moment before the smile drifted off her face. "You're sadder," she stated. "Is it because he didn’t come back?"

"Who didn’t come back?" Spencer asked, confused.

"The man who left you," Diana said. "He wore a doctor's coat, but he wasn’t a doctor. At least, not the usual kind – I've met enough of those to know."

"Mom?"

"They told me I imagined it," she said. "That there was never anyone there, but I knew the truth. A mother knows."

"Mom?" Spencer asked, worried. "Who are you talking about?"

"The other Doctor," she replied, looking at something that he couldn’t see. " _Your_ Doctor."

* * *

The Doctor was holding a baby in his hands as he walked out of the TARDIS, looking at it sadly. The baby looked back at the sorrowful face, taking in the features of his childhood friend. He knew, without need for words, that this was more than likely the last time he'll see him in a long time, and couldn’t help but wish he was able to protest.

"I'm sorry, old friend," the Doctor said as he walked into the building and started heading up the floors. "But it won't be safe for you to stay with me."

The Professor opened his mouth to reply, only for baby babbling to come out of it. Tears welled in his eyes and he tried holding them back, not wanting to cry.

"I know," the Doctor said, rocking him softly. "I know. But you'll be safe here. Safer, anyways. One of the babies here," he added, "Had died a couple of minutes ago. The nurses hadn’t noticed yet, so I'll just make the switch. Nobody will ever know you're not him, and I'll make sure to give him a proper burial."

Briefly, the Professor wondered what would happen if anybody heard this conversation. It would seem odd, for a grown man to say all of those things to a seemingly newborn baby. Then again, an outsider would have no way of knowing that inside the body of an infant was a six hundred years old Time Lord, frustrated at his inability to react.

"I'll come back, when the War is over," the Doctor promised. "No matter the outcome, if we win, or lose… I'll come back either way."

 _I don’t want you to need to come back,_ the Professor wished he could say. _I don’t want you to leave in the first place._

It was a quick in and out as the Doctor made the switch, lingering just a moment too long as he brushed a finger over the baby's cheek.

"Goodbye, Professor."

And, just like that, the Professor shed the name he was using for the past half a millennia, taking a new one instead.

_Spencer Reid._

* * *

"It was less than a couple of hours since I gave birth," Diana said. "I couldn’t sleep… I had a bad feeling. I looked out the window and saw him."

"Saw the Doctor?" Spencer asked.

"Not immediately," she replied. "First, there was this strange sound. Like… whooshing of some kind. A blue box appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the street. Then, the Doctor came out." Her eyes darted up to him. "And he was holding you."

"Mom…" Spencer said quietly.

"You are my son," Diana told him sharply. "I took care of you as a baby, I watched you grow up. You are my son, and you will always be my son. But you weren’t always.

"I understood what happened later. Why I couldn’t sleep. The boy I gave birth to died but you didn’t. You were there, and alive, and from the moment I looked at you I knew I would do anything for you."

"How?" Spencer asked in disbelief. "How could you look at a boy that wasn’t your son and know you were going to treat him as if he was?"

"I… I just knew," Diana said simply, smiling at the man who will always be her little boy. "A mother knows."


End file.
